National Night Out in LA

August 5th is National Night Out 2008. Across America (except TX where they’ll wait until Oct. 17th) is an evening dedicated to community building and generating support for local crime-fighting endeavors. Sponsored by National Night Out Town Watch, the annual event includes over 10,000 communities nationwide. Here in Los Angeles, the LAPD will be hosting several events. My local LAPD division, the Hollenbeck Division will be hosting several events in El Sereno, Boyle Heights, and Lincoln Heights.

Like many communities, the Hollywood Community Police Station has made NNO into something of a community fair. The event, which runs from 5pm to 8pm offers:

Booths:

PALS

Explorers

Hollywood Community Relations Office

Hollywood Neighborhood City Attorney’s Office

Council Districts 4, 5, and 13

Target (Official Sponsor of National Night Out)

Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood

Entertainment:

Dora the Explorer from Universal Studios will meet and greet children and take photos

Rock Nation will be performing.

Sergeant Deborah Gourman (National Anthem)

Kids Entertainment:

Jumpers

Face Painting

Balloonist

Food:

We will be Barbecuing Hot Dogs. We will also have chips, popcorn, snow cones and cookies.

You can find out about National Night Out events in your neighborhood by contacting your local LAPD Community Relations office or Senior Lead office. To locate your local LAPD division, visit lapdonline.org. Though the matrix has not been updated to reflect the most current events, you can also check National Night Out Events – Los Angeles (PDF) for events in your area.

Lead by the Churches of NorthEast LA, the NorthEast LA community will meet to march against violence in the streets. The march is down York Blvd to Eagle Rock Blvd and then down Eagle Rock Blvd to the Resource Fair. Snacks will be served at both the staging area and the Resource Fair. Bottled water will also be available for marchers. Along with the Resource Fair there will be live and DJ music and a Mini Car Show.

Community groups, families and local organizations and businesses and others are encouraged to join the march and bring organizational / identificational banners or signs. March signs will also be provided. This march and resource fair is being held in response to the violence in the streets of NorthEast LA, the crimes against the person, such as shootings / drive-bys / robberies / assaults / rapes / batteries. Summer is the time when these crimes escalate and so we are taking to the streets to march and declare:

At a recent Churches of NorthEast LA Monthly Breakfast Gathering Chief Murphy challenged the churches to become involved in helping to reduce crime in the streets of the NorthEast LA area. In immediate response the churches and other religiously-based community organizations represented at the meeting said let’s do a peace march and so was born the Peace in the NorthEast Community March, which we believe will become an annual march.